Firefighter in Right Place-Right Time to Save a Baby


The life of a 1-year-old child was saved yesterday by firefighters as they returned from battling a brush fire. At about 7:30 PM, Tuesday, April 6, 2010, an engine from Kentland Fire/EMS Station 833 was returning to their station after working for 3 hours at a brush fire in Bowie. As they approached their station they were dispatched as a first responder to a 911 report that a child was choking and had stopped breathing at a home on nearby Greely Place in Landover. Family members, knowing the Kentland Volunteer Fire/EMS Station was nearby, took the infant in the car and headed towards the station.


As the Kentland engine was maneuvering their apparatus to turn around and respond on the call, a passenger car approached and blocked them in. A family member got out of the car holding a non-breathing 1-year-old female and rapidly approached the engine. The family member handed the infant over to Volunteer Fire Fighter and Emergency Medical Technician Fred Caramiello on-board Engine 833 and explained that the child had been choking. Fire Fighter Caramiello quickly assessed the infant and confirmed she was not breathing and performed several back-slaps on the infant and was successful in dislodging the obstruction. The infant then started spontaneous breathing on her own. Paramedics that had been responding on the original call to Greely Place arrived quickly and transported the infant to a nearby hospital.

The infant’s uncle and godfather, Daryl Lindsay, told us today that the infant remains hospitalized but is in good condition and is expected to make a full recovery.

Comments